Thursday, February 27, 2020

Halls of fame for fiddlers, visual effects artists, government and more

While there are hundreds of brick-and-mortar halls of fame you can visit, there are hundreds more virtual halls of fame online.
What follows is a list of some recent virtual halls that I’ve discovered.

National Fiddler Hall of Fame

The National Fiddler Hall of Fame in Tulsa, Okla., doesn’t have a physical museum but holds an annual musical gala for inductions. This year’s concert on April 18 is headlined by Kris Kristofferson and The Strangers.
The National Fiddler Hall of Fame is not to be confused with the North American Fiddlers Hall of Fame and Museum in Redfield, N.Y. The New York State Old Tyme Fiddlers Association is headquartered at the museum.

Visual Effects Society Hall of Fame

Since 2017, the Visual Effects Society has been inducting individuals into the VES Hall of Fame. The 2019 honorees included Walt Disney, Stanley Kubrick and Stan Lee.
The distinction is bestowed upon professionals who have played a significant role in advancing the field of visual effects.

Rail-Trail Hall of Fame

In 2007, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy created the Rail-Trail Hall of Fame to recognize exemplary rail-trails around the country. Rail-trails are multipurpose biking paths that were created on abandoned railroad lines.

Business Travel Hall of Fame

Business Travel News, a Northstar Travel Group brand, inducts industry professionals into its Business Travel Hall of Fame.
Inductees have included the founders of Hilton Hotels, Southwest Airlines and JetBlue; chief executives of American Airlines, British Airways, Emirates Airlines, Air France, Avis and Hertz; and chairmen of Hyatt and Marriott.

Government Hall of Fame

In August, the Government Executive Media Group announced the inaugural members of the Government Hall of Fame. The 20 members of the inaugural class included CIA Director Robert Gates, Secretary of State Colin Powell, President Theodore Roosevelt, Fed Chairman Paul Volker and Apollo 11 astronauts Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins.

Fluid Power Hall of Fame

The International Fluid Power Society formed the Fluid Power Hall of Fame to honor individuals who have made significant contributions to the fluid power industry. It inducted 11 industry leaders (six posthumous) with its inaugural class last year.

Wireless Hall of Fame

The Wireless History Foundation formed the Wireless Hall of Fame to recognize outstanding individuals across all segments of the wireless industry. The foundation is a nonprofit organization formed to preserve and promote the history of the wireless industry.

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Saturday, February 22, 2020

Physical halls of fame on the way for U.S. Olympic athletes, Illinois rockers, more

There are at least 459 halls of fame you can visit in the U.S. and Canada. And more are on the way. (Check out this Google map of the halls of fame in North America.) They include halls of fame for athletes, musicians, inventors, aviation, fishing and toys, to name a few.
The newest physical halls of fame are the Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame, University of Texas Athletics Hall of Fame and the National Comedy Hall of Fame Museum.

Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame

The Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame partnered with HeadzUp Vegas to create an interactive boxing exhibit and museum. The NVBHOF Interactive Boxing Exhibit and Museum is located inside the Boulevard Mall. It held its grand opening on June 22, 2019.

University of Texas Athletics Hall of Fame

The University of Texas Athletics Hall of Fame opened a brick-and-mortar facility in Austin, Texas, on Aug. 30, 2019.
The Frank Denius Family University of Texas Athletics Hall of Fame is a $17.1 million project housed in the 24,713-square-foot Red McCombs Red Zone in the North End Zone of Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

National Comedy Hall of Fame

The National Comedy Hall of Fame Museum opened its new facility in Holiday, Fla., on Nov. 12, 2019. The museum features material and memorabilia documenting the U.S. comedy industry.

Here’s a look at some more that are on the way:

U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame

The United States Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame will be hosted at the United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum. The museum is scheduled to open early 2020 in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
The 60,000 square-foot museum is dedicated to U.S. Olympic and Paralympic athletes and their compelling stories. It will feature artifacts, interactive exhibits and videos.

Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame

The Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame was announced last year and the inaugural class will be revealed this year. There will be a permanent display in PNC Park recognizing those selected for the honor.

Memphis Sports Hall of Fame

The Memphis Sports Hall of Fame is scheduled to open an exhibit at the AutoZone Park baseball stadium in Memphis this spring. The Memphis Sports Experience & Hall of Fame is a collaboration between Memphis Tourism and the Memphis Redbirds organization.

Illinois Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

The planned Illinois Rock & Roll Museum on Route 66 this week announced its first class of inductees. They include Chicago, REO Speedwagon, Cheap Trick and others. The organization behind the hall has purchased a building in Joliet, Illinois, for a future museum. The first floor of the museum is scheduled to open later this year, the Herald-News reported.

Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame

The Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame is establishing its inaugural exhibit within the Charles M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana. It is currently raising funds for the project.

Character Hall of Fame

Last July, Comic-Con created the Character Hall of Fame with Batman as the first inductee. The inductees will be on display at the physical Comic-Con Museum, which is due to open in 2021 in San Diego’s Balboa Park.
The museum is described as “a year-round pop-culture wonderland featuring rotating immersive exhibits, theaters of varying sizes and extensive educational programming.”

Photos: Exterior of United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum (top); and logo for Illinois Rock & Roll Museum Hall of Fame.

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Sunday, February 16, 2020

Amazon Prime Video unleashes wave after wave of post-apocalyptic movies

In November, I noted that Amazon Prime Video had become a dumping ground for low-budget post-apocalyptic-themed movies.
I listed 37 little-known, independent post-apocalyptic movies available on Amazon Prime Video.
The trend is continuing. Today I’m going to list 34 more such post-apocalyptic movies on the service.
As with the first set, most of these movies have gotten terrible user reviews. And very few have gotten professional reviews to list on Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic. That makes it hard for fans of the genre to find good post-apocalyptic movies among the dozens on the service. No one wants to waste their time watching bad movies.

Left Behind 2: Tribulation Force (2002)
Dead Inside (2006)
Zombie Wars (2007)
One Hundred Mornings (2009)
Wasteland (2011)
Dead Weight (2012)
Rise of the Zombies (2012)
Existence (2013)
Sound of Nothing (2013)
To Survive (2013)
Infected (2014)
The Last Light (2014)
Anger of the Dead (2015)
Jack’s Apocalypse (2015)
One Last Sunset Redux (2015)
Shelter (2015)
Astraea (2016)
Las Tinieblas, aka The Darkness (2016)
Range 15 (2016)
The Stray (2016)
Almost Dead (2017)
Darkest Day (2017)
Dawning of the Dead (2017)
Thaw of the Dead (2017)
The Z Effect (2017)
We All Fall Down (2017)
AB Negative (2019)
Texas Zombie Wars: Titan Base (2019)
The End of All Things (2019)
The Last Boy (2019)
2020: Fallen Earth (2019)
E.M.P. 333 Days (2019)
The Directive (2019)
Zoo (2019)

Photo: Movie poster from “Apocalypse Road” (2016), available on Amazon Prime Video.

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Sunday, February 9, 2020

Netflix getting less transparent about DVD-by-mail business

Netflix ended 2019 with 2.15 million paid subscriptions to its legacy, U.S.-only DVD-by-mail service. But the company’s fourth-quarter report could be the last time it releases DVD subscriber numbers.
In a Jan. 29 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Netflix said it will start limiting disclosure on the domestic DVD business as it shifts to a single operating segment. It specifically mentioned no longer reporting contribution profit or loss for the domestic DVD business as well as the domestic streaming and international streaming businesses. (See article by Media Play News.)
It is unclear whether Netflix will continue to report the number of DVD subscribers it has. Netflix did not respond to a request for comment on the subject.
Now that Netflix is the leading subscription video-on-demand service, it has little incentive to promote the old-school DVD business which gave the company its start.
Without marketing and promotion, the number of Netflix DVD subscribers has withered in recent years.
Last year, the DVD business lost 553,000 subscribers, or 20% of its total in just 12 months.
At its current rate, the Netflix DVD business will drop below 2 million subscribers in the second quarter.
Given the decline of the DVD business, one must wonder how long Netflix will continue to operate it.
The key to that question is whether the business is profitable. As of 2019, it was.
The domestic DVD-by-mail business generated a profit of $174 million on revenue of $297 million last year. That’s small potatoes compared to the company’s global streaming service. The company’s total revenue ion 2019 was $20.16 billion.
The eventual end of the Netflix DVD business will be harder to predict now, given that the company will no longer provide contribution profit details from the segment.

Photo: Netflix DVD service (Netflix)
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Monday, January 13, 2020

CES 2020 buzzword of the show: Streaming

After every CES, I like to pick the buzzword of the show. The buzzword is usually a marketing term that companies throw around with abandon at CES. Sometimes it’s a hot technology term. Other times, it is a theme that stands out.
For CES 2020, I’m picking “streaming” as the buzzword of the show. The importance of streaming video and music at CES was too big to ignore this year.
If I went just with what wording was used most frequently in press conferences and in exhibitor booths, the buzzword would be either “smart” or “AI.” Both of those terms were tossed around with practically every new product at the show. We had smart toilets, smart showers, smart faucets, smart mirrors, smart toothbrushes, smart bathroom mats, and that’s just in the bathroom.
Frankly those terms could have been used as the buzzwords for the past several CES conferences.
CES 2020 will be remembered as the coming-out party for a host of streaming video services, including Quibi, NBCUniversal’s Peacock and WarnerMedia’s HBO Max. Also at the show were The Trade Desk and other companies involved in placing advertising in streaming video services.
Plus, streaming music services, including Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, iHeartMedia and SiriusXM, had a major presence at CES 2020.
If I had to pick a runner-up for buzzword of CES 2020, I’d pick MicroLED. The display technology is gathering steam and could soon be rival OLED as a next-generation display.

CES buzzwords through the years:

2010: Green
2011: Smart
2012: Ultra
2013: Super
2014: Curved
2015: Wearable
2016: HDR (high dynamic range)
2017: Voice
2018: AI (artificial intelligence)
2019: 5G
2020: Streaming

Photos: Quibi Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg introduces his mobile video-on-demand service (top); NBCUniversal executive Linda Yaccarino leads a panel discussion with special guests including Terry Crews, Ester Dean, Kate del Castillo, Mandy Moore and Natalie Morales. (CES)

Related reading:

CES 2020 news in review (Jan. 11, 2020)

Celebrities at CES 2020: Alicia Keys, Shay Mitchell, Terry Crews and more (Jan. 12, 2020)


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Sunday, January 12, 2020

Celebrities at CES 2020: Alicia Keys, Shay Mitchell, Terry Crews and more

CES 2020, the giant consumer technology trade show held Jan. 7-10 in Las Vegas, featured many celebrities in addition to the latest tech innovations.
Singer Alicia Keys spoke about streaming music in high definition on a panel at the C Space area of the conference. (See article by Twice.)
Actress Shay Mitchell spoke at a C Space panel on direct-to-consumer engagement.
Actor Terry Crews and actress Mandy Moore were among the stars on hand for a keynote presentation by NBCUniversal executive Linda Yaccarino.
Actress Aisha Tyler hosted the Dell press conference for the second year in a row.
Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps appeared at the Panasonic press conference.
Oscar-winning composer and producer Giorgio Moroder made an appearance at the FPT Industrial booth.
Professional wrestling stars Becky Lynch and the Bella Twins met fans at the WWE booth.
But some of the biggest star power was reserved for private corporate parties.
Rock legends Pat Benatar and Stevie Nicks performed at a concert for Samsung brand JBL.
Singer Mary J. Blige performed at the MediaLink party.
Rapper Ludacris performed at the Spotify party.
Singer Janelle Monae performed at the CNet party.
Rapper LL Cool J performed at the Pandora party.
Rapper Snoop Dogg was the DJ at the Twitter party.
French Montana performed a set at the iHeartRadio party.
I’m sure I missed a few. Let me know.
























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Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Top 20 celebrities predicted to die in 2020

Actor Kirk Douglas is one tough SOB. At age 103, Douglas has topped the Stiffs.com annual dead pool for four straight years.
Of the top 20 public figures marked for death in 2019 by players on Stiffs.com, five died last year. They were author Herman Wouk, 103; actress Carol Channing, 97; architect I.M. Pei, 102; actress, singer, and animal welfare activist Doris Day, 97; and actress Valerie Harper, 80.
Who’s likely to bite the dust in 2020?
What follows are the top 20 public figures (with their ages) predicted to die in 2020, according to Stiffs.com.
  1. Kirk Douglas, 103, actor 
  2. Olivia de Havilland, 103, actress 
  3. Jimmy Carter, 95, former U.S. president 
  4. Prince Philip, 98, husband of Queen Elizabeth II 
  5. Alex Trebek, 79, “Jeopardy” game show host 
  6. Roberta McCain, 107, political matriarch 
  7. Bob Dole, 96, retired U.S. senator 
  8. Beverly Cleary, 103, children’s book writer 
  9. Vera Lynn, 102, singer 
  10. Bob Barker, 96, game show host 
  11. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 86, U.S. Supreme Court justice 
  12. Betty White, 97, actress 
  13. Henry Kissinger, 96, former U.S. secretary of state 
  14. Hugh Downs, 98, TV news anchor 
  15. Olivia Newton-John, 71, singer 
  16. Carl Reiner, 97, comedian, actor, writer and director 
  17. Sumner Redstone, 96, media magnate 
  18. Queen Elizabeth II, 93, queen of the United Kingdom 
  19. Ed Asner, 90, actor 
  20. Dick Van Dyke, 94, actor 
Here are some notable younger public figures predicted to die this year by multiple Stiffs.com dead-pool players:

65. Val Kilmer, 60, actor
67. Eddie Van Halen, 64, rocker
105. Michael J. Fox, 58, actor
112. William “The Refrigerator” Perry, 57, football player
123. Charlie Sheen, 54, actor
135. Artie Lange, 52, comedian
142. Kim Jong-un, 36, supreme leader of North Korea
149. Shannen Doherty, 48, actress
168. Julian Assange, 48, WikiLeaks founder
177. Demi Lovato, 27, singer
183. Johnny Depp, 56, actor
184. Lindsay Lohan, 33, actress
230. Lamar Odom, 40, basketball player
236. Matthew Perry, 50, actor
242. R. Kelly, 52, singer

Photo: Movie poster for “Spartacus” (1960), starring Kirk Douglas. 
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